Tracking the Gamecocks

A Championship Tradition

Jacksonville State spent the 2021-22 athletics season in a new conference home, while also preparing to make the move to another conference in 2023 .

The Gamecocks returned to the ASUN Conference in 2021-22, coming back to the league that was their Division I conference home when they made the move up in 1995 . The return to the league came after a dominant 18-year stay in the Ohio Valley Conference and was part of the birth of ASUN Football, something that wasn’t offered when the Gamecocks were forced to leave in 2003 to put all of their sports under one conference umbrella .

Jacksonville State’s journey through conference transition took an exciting turn in November of 2021, when the Gamecocks were extended an invitation to join Conference USA and move their football program up to the Football Bowl Subdivision . JSU, along with three other schools in Liberty, New Mexico State and Sam Houston, accepted the invitation and began a plan make the move to C-USA in July of 2023 . The Gamecocks have been putting themselves in position for the move over the past 12 years, a timeframe that has seen JSU invest millions of dollars in its athletics facilities, while also implementing numerous projects across campus that will help continue to provide the Gamecock students and student-athletes one of the top collegiate experiences in the region . Those improvements have been highlighted by the new campus and recreation facility that was completed in 2019 and the new business school that has reopened in 2021, while future projects include the Randy Owen Performing Arts Center and the dorm and dining additions to the football stadium complex, which will also provide new day-to-day facilities for the football program . To help prepare for the move to college football’s top division, the Gamecocks invested in one of college football’s top coaches to lead their football program . On Nov . 30, JSU formally introduced Rich Rodriguez as the program’s 28th head coach . The coaching veteran of over 30 years brings a 163-119-2 career record with him to JSU and will begin his Gamecock career in 2022 ranked 16th among all active Division I head coaches in career wins and eighth among active FCS coaches .